You and Me Could Write a Bad Romance
by waterlilylf
Summary: Birds do it, bees do it. Even Wufei and Zechs can do it. But can Heero and Duo turn a potentially bad romance into an amazing one? Yaoi. 1 x 2.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: The Gundam Wing universe does not, lamentably, belong to me and I make no monetary profits from writing.

Note 1: This story is dedicated to Sharona, in appreciation of the wonderful 'Moments of Rapture' website, and for doing so much to keep the Gundam flame burning.

Note 2: Many thanks to Kaeru Shisho for the most adorable story summary ever, and the odd bit of editing and whatnot.

Note 3: This story is set in the same universe as 'Christmas Camouflaged' and begins at roughly the same time.

**Chapter 1/3:**

He'd promised to be back for Christmas; he missed it by all of ninety-five damn minutes. Would have made it all right if the ground crew hadn't fucked up the landing schedule. So he'd been stuck stewing for nearly two hours after knocking back the glass of lukewarm white wine the stewardesses had handed out as an apology. It tasted like poor quality piss and vinegar, but there was probably some alcohol content in there somewhere.

Short-handed over Christmas, a chirpy female voice had announced over the intercom, by way of explanation for the delay. So sorry for the inconvenience. Happy Holidays.

Fuck.

He'd _promised_, ten days ago, when Heero had dropped him off at the shuttle port, and Heero had nodded and looked vaguely sceptical. Stupid, making promises like that, when you never knew how a mission would go. Definitely shouldn't go making promises around specific time frames.

Fucking stupid, and Heero would be pissed, so there'd be a row and make-up sex, and it would all be exhausting and stressful and he really just wanted to lie down and sleep somewhere for about ten days.

When they finally docked, he waved his Preventers badge around, and was the first one off the shuttle.

It was two hours and twenty minutes after midnight when he walked into the Arrivals area, bag dragging at his right shoulder, and his thoughts dragging themselves into a fantasy that maybe Heero would have given up waiting and gone home, and Duo could get a cab back to his own apartment and they could meet the next day when he'd stored up some sleep.

Heero was there though. There was a quick, sudden flare of relief when he saw him standing by the barrier, looking vaguely annoyed at the universe. He smiled when he saw Duo though, and Duo smiled back.

'Hey.'

Heero nodded, taking Duo's bag and swinging it over his own shoulder.

'Thanks, 'Ro.'

Another nod; his eyes travelling up and down Duo's body. Not remotely sexy or sexual; just a quick clinical appraisal.

'I'm all right. I told you.' They sometimes did the whole touching-in-public thing, but Heero was less comfortable with it than Duo was and had to steel himself. He'd done it more at the start, because he'd thought it was expected, what Duo would want. It wasn't overly flattering to be treated like a mission though so he hadn't really encouraged PDAs, and gradually Heero had stopped, most of the time.

It would have been nice now, though, to get a hug, to have Heero's arms around him in welcome, but that clearly wasn't going to happen, so Duo started walking toward the exit doors, letting Heero fall into place beside him. 'I'm just tired. Been a couple of long days.'

'Hn.'

'Yeah.'

Some couples had the whole non-verbal communication thing down pat; Quat and Trowa, for example. Duo and Heero – well, they weren't much good at the verbal sort, a lot of the time, and they totally sucked at the non-verbal stuff too. Apart from the sex, if that counted.

They didn't talk at all as they took the elevator to the underground car park, Duo focussing on just putting one foot in front of the other, and Heero just being Heero.

It was a relief to slide into the car finally; sure, he loved his old truck that he'd built pretty much from the wheels up, but Heero's car was one of his favourite things in the universe, sleek and sporty and sexy-as-sin. Nothing like the sort of car Heero had been planning to buy. He'd spent weeks on the internet doing research and narrowed his choice down to a couple of models that were fuel-efficient and reliable and came from companies with exemplary safety records.

Duo had gone along with him to a couple of local garages to test-drive the cars he'd preferred, and in the first showroom there'd been a section of vintage sports cars. Duo had drooled so much over one in particular that there'd probably been a puddle at his feet, and persuaded him to take it out, just for a quick spin. That had been that, really, and even if Heero did bitch sometimes that he hadn't actually _chosen_ the thing; that he'd been forced to buy it after they'd stained the upholstery in the back seat, Duo knew he loved it really.

Now, the heater was on full-blast to compensate for Duo's light-weight uniform, fine on an artificially-heated colony, not so fine on a snowy December night in Sanc, so it took a couple of seconds to come back to full awareness, that Heero was asking him a question. Trowa, right.

'He's OK. Well, as OK as you can be with a bullet hole coming that close to your spine. Insisted on going back to L4, and the medics weren't dumb enough to try to stop him. Rashid came over to fly him home.'

Lucky Trowa, Duo thought vaguely, betting his reunion with Quat had been nicer than this. Private shuttle with a friend piloting, and an adoring blond boyfriend to welcome him home. No, not boyfriend, he corrected mentally. Fiancé now.

'Guess you heard the news about the two of them, huh? Big tropical wedding. Tahiti or wherever.'

Heero nodded, eyes on the road. 'Hardly a surprise, is it?'

'That it took so long, maybe. Considering they've been together, like, forever. You know, despite the whole war thing, and all the psychotic episodes, and the amnesia and Quat's sisters trying to break them up and basically throwing every other guy in the universe at Quat. Talk about a daytime soap opera!'

That made Heero laugh and that made Duo smile, and then he reached over and put one hand on Heero's leg and Heero took one hand off the wheel to cover it.

'I'm glad you're home.'

'Me too. Sorry I'm late. Bloody ground crew couldn't get their act together.'

'It doesn't matter.'

It did though. He hated it when Heero pulled this whole passive-aggressive shit. If he'd yelled at Duo for breaking a promise he shouldn't have made in the first place, Duo would have yelled back and they'd have worked through it, even if they'd both sported a few bruises in the morning.

He sighed, turning to look out his window, looking where they were going. Back to Heero's, apparently. It made perfect sense; Duo had cleared out his fridge before the mission, and his place would be freezing and it was farther away. It was just…he'd kind of wanted to sleep in his own bed, and Heero's house never really felt like home.

He dozed off again, a little bit, and woke up to Heero's hand on his shoulder. 'Can you wake up, Duo? Or am I going to have to carry you?'

God, that was tempting for a minute. Then he shook his head, and made it out of the car under his own steam. Shit, the garage was fucking _icy_. He wrapped his arms around his chest, and then something warm and soft landed around his shoulders. He huddled into the sheer bliss that was Heero's favourite coat, while Heero got his bag out of the back seat, and then slid one arm around his waist and that felt amazing as well.

OK, it was good to be back.

He plonked down on the couch while Heero went through his locking-up routine; he'd left the heating on so the place was lovely and warm. The temperature, anyway. The house itself was neat and clean and so damn impersonal it made Duo want to scream sometimes, and he'd taken to leaving stuff around whenever he stayed over, just to make it a bit more homey. Heero cleared some of it away, and left the things he liked.

Actually, it was looking a bit more…like a home, these days. The crochet rug Duo had made him for last birthday was thrown over the back of the couch, and the photo frames he'd made out of driftwood were arranged in front of Heero's computer manuals, and there were a few other odds and ends in evidence, little things constructed out of acorns and pine-cones and shells.

Mostly stuff he'd made himself, Duo reflected drowsily. He'd kind of drifted out of the arts-and-crafts phase since he and Heero had hooked up, but he'd made a hell of a lot of crap during it.

Considering he was in such a strop over Duo not being home in time for it, there was absolutely no sign of Christmas. He could have bought a bloody tree, or a wreath for the door, at least, Duo thought wistfully, and then felt bad. Christmas wasn't really something Heero related to; it had only been an abstract concept for him until after the war.

Anyway, neither of them was into the whole religion thing, and they didn't have family to share it with. It was the date.

A year exactly since they'd got together.

Damn.

He finally shrugged off the coat, draping it carefully over the back of a chair, and watched Heero enter the alarm code in the panel by the door. It shouldn't have been awkward; it was. Tiredness and guilt and the inevitable crash after a mission. Not a great combination.

'All right?' Heero turned around to look at him.

Duo just shrugged. 'You know.'

'I know, yes.' He said it softly, crossed the room to take Duo in his arms.

Yeah, that was good; not awkward any more. He nuzzled into Heero's neck, inhaling the scent of him. So good to be somewhere that didn't smell like a hospital, or a crowded shuttle. Really, _really_ good to have Heero's hands on him, pulling him down on to the couch.

So damn good, he thought hazily, as Heero's hands slid under his shirt, and Heero's mouth came down on his. He let his eyes drift close, let himself sink into the kiss, slow and lazy and very sweet.

'_Duo_!'

He jerked both eyes open; Heero looked damn pissed about something and that didn't make sense when they'd been kissing.

'You were falling asleep on me. Hardly very flattering.'

OK, he actually looked amused more than anything by the time he'd finished speaking, and that was almost worse. Duo didn't much like being laughed at, unless he'd set up the joke in the first place, and he'd been enjoying the snuggling, and now it was ruined.

'_Sorry_,' he snapped, and jerked upright. 'I'm fucking sorry that I'm wrecked and not really in any condition to be your personal fuck-toy right now.'

Ouch. He was sorry as soon as he'd spoken, mumbling more apologies. Too late. Heero was off the couch in a heartbeat, putting half the room between them.

'I'm sorry, OK?' Duo said again, hating himself. Oh, God. Heero was usually pretty good at filtering out most of the crap Duo flung at him, knew most of it was just hot air and horseshit, especially when he was in that post-mission haze of tiredness and slowly-releasing stress, and but everyone had limits. 'I'm an ass. You know I didn't mean it.'

'Didn't you?' He'd got that closed-off expression that was way worse than him being angry, and this was worse again because he'd obviously been hurt. 'I don't know, Duo. Is that what you really think; that I only want you for sex?'

'No! Heero, please, just give me a break. I don't know what I'm even saying right now. I've been awake for seventy-two hours or something.'

'It's all right.' Heero said tonelessly, but he was looking a little bit less – strained. 'I should have thought. Didn't you get any sleep on the shuttle?'

'Can't sleep on those things.' OK, this was so wasn't what he'd imagined his home-coming would be like, on Christmas Day. Not even Christmas Day any more. Fuck. 'I might just go on up to bed.'

Heero just nodded. 'Do you want me to make you something to eat?'

'No, I'm OK. There was food on the flight. Stuff pretending to be food. I might jump in the shower, though.'

He thought, just for a minute, that Heero might offer to come and scrub his back, but he didn't. Well, he could understand why when he thought about it. Poor guy, of course he didn't want to be rejected again. Some fucking anniversary. Anniversary plus one day. He ran the water as hot as he could stand it, and just let it pound down on him. One advantage to being at Heero's place; he had an amazing power shower.

Heero was sitting on the bed when he came back into the bedroom, and OK, maybe he wasn't all that tired, really. Not when Heero was wearing those red silk boxers patterned with holly and a red ribbon around his neck, tied in a bow.

Shit. He had decorated for Christmas after all.

'Are you my Christmas present?'

Best Christmas present ever, _seriously_. And he could think of, oh, dozens of things two creative and flexible guys who didn't object to a bit of mild bondage could do with that ribbon.

Heero nodded, looking just a little bit self-conscious. 'Like it?'

'Love the pretty packaging.' He took a few steps nearer the bed, and Heero slid off, and into his arms. Any other couple would have said something soppy and sentimental, probably, but they didn't do that. 'I might need to unwrap it to make sure.'

'Maybe you should. It's nice having you back.'

'Nice _being_ back. Oh, man, that feels good.' He let Heero pull him closer, and then a bit closer again, and oh yeah, not that tired apparently. Not with Heero pressing against him, and Heero's tongue trying to make up its mind whether it wanted to get down Duo's throat and blow his tonsils, or lick down his neck, and apparently settling for both options in turn, until he pulled back and honest-to-God _growled_, deep in his throat, and then pushed Duo down to the floor, and half-fell on top of him.

It was dark and cold when he woke up in Heero's bed. Cold because Heero had shifted away during the night and taken all the blankets with him. Even the god-awful hideous throw that had been his first attempt at crocheting; mustard-coloured wool that he'd got on sale, and a few blood-stains because crochet hooks were damn sharp if you stuck them in the wrong places, and the whole thing generally tatty and tangled.

Heero had it wrapped firmly around him though, one hand clutching it over his shoulder. Seriously cute, Duo thought, smiling.

He was cold, and he was sore in assorted places; apart from the obvious, he had bad cases of carpet burn on knees and elbows. Still, better than the bruises he'd had that one time they'd done it on the tiled floor in the bathroom. They needed to get floor cushions. Seriously. Or start controlling themselves long enough to get to the bed.

It was damn _cold, _because Heero's heating switched off automatically during the night, saving power. Freezing, actually. Damn. The sex was always super-nova, but they still weren't very good at the actual _sleeping_ part of sleeping together, and it had been easier, in a way, when one or other of them had gone home afterwards.

Duo tended to move around in his sleep, and a few times he'd been half-strangled by a half-asleep Heero, who'd apparently thought a strange body in his bed could only be a threat. They'd got past that, mostly; Heero had worked out that if he pinned Duo to the bed then he couldn't flail around much, and it was sort of nice, snuggling.

They rarely made it through the night without Heero pulling away though, and he always brought the covers with him.

He shivered and tried tugging at the blankets, and then gave a couple of pokes to the solid wall of muscle that was Heero's back, and Heero grunted and curled into himself even more.

Duo gave it up as a bad job. If he kept poking, Heero would probably end up thumping him in his sleep – it had happened a couple of times before – and then he'd wake up feeling grouchy and then guilty.

Instead, he climbed out of bed, and pulled on some of Heero's clothes that he'd left out on a chair by the door, a deliciously warm sweater and jeans, and went into the bathroom. Heero had cleaned him up at some point while he'd slept, but his mouth tasted like something had died in it – slowly and painfully of unnatural causes - and he needed a piss.

He grinned at his reflection in the mirror over the sink. Oh yeah, seriously rocking that just-been-fucked-through-the-floorboards look. Hair all over the place, and a trail of hickeys down his neck, because Heero had a thing about marking him, and faint bruising around his wrists where he'd been held down.

He looked like he belonged in a porn movie, a thought that made him smile even more widely. Good to be home. Heero's place. Wherever Heero was, really.

He thought about going back to bed, maybe waking Heero up and finding another way to stay warm, and then realised he was hungry; there'd been plastic and Styrofoam on the flight; that was what it had tasted like anyway, although it was supposed to be pasta.

It was only six am; too early to order food from anywhere. Damn. He'd have to face Heero's fridge. Rice crackers and protein shakes and fricking sea-weed. He hated the stainless steel fridge of doom; hated the entire kitchen actually. He never saw Heero clean, but somehow it was always sparklingly clean and smelt of some lemony synthetic stuff.

The fridge contained all the usual healthy suspects, but there was also a massive carton of chocolate milk, and a big jug of some smoothie stuff, and there was chocolate cereal and a pack of English muffins in the cupboard under the window.

Imagine that.

He put it all on the table and poured a glass of the home-made smoothie and swore when he tasted it.

Not smoothie at all.

Eggnog.

Oh, damn.

That was what had started it all a year ago. That drink he didn't even like, but was apparently all bound up with Christmas traditions so he'd bought a couple of cartons and forgotten all about them until Quatre had gone rooting in the fridge for leftovers to make sandwiches and discovered them.

It had been the third Christmas after the war.

That had been a fun day, Duo thought, smiling at the memory. Nothing like Relena's fancy party the year before, but way more fun. They'd spent Christmas Eve decorating the tree with stuff Duo had mostly made himself, and on the big day they'd opened presents and gone for a walk in the snow, and had a snowball fight, and then gone back in cold and hungry and Quat had found the eggnog. They'd sat down to watch a movie; Quat and Tro snuggled up on the couch, under a blanket, and Wufei cross-legged on the floor, trying to look all inscrutable and unfathomable while the others teased him about dancing with Zechs at the Preventers Christmas party, but smiling a little bit to himself as well.

Duo had been in the armchair, with Heero perched on the edge, all stiff and upright at first, but gradually, he'd let himself lean back, and Duo had – equally gradually – closed the little distance between them, and at some point, Heero had let one arm drop around Duo's shoulders and Duo had cuddled into him.

And then Heero had reached over to put his empty glass on the floor, and he'd run his hand down Duo's braid in passing. Duo had turned to look at him, wide-eyed; it was the first time Heero'd ever done anything like that, and then Heero had kissed him. Just like that.

Not really that much of a kiss, just a fleeting brush of Heero's mouth against his, so fast he could have imagined it. There'd been whistles and cat-calls from the others and Heero had just glared at them, and pulled Duo back against him.

That had been that, really. Best Christmas present ever; Heero Yuy.

'Goodness,' Quatre had said, laughing. 'It's about time.'

Trowa had just nodded. 'All those years of unrequited sexual tension. Had to come out, eventually.'

'Oh, screw you, Barton,' Duo muttered, head tucked away in Heero's shoulder, with Heero's arm holding him in place. 'Stop _looking_ at me. Show's over.'

'Is it really?' Heero bent down to murmur against his ear. 'That's a shame.'

Duo had stuttered something or other, and Heero laughed and kissed him again, on the top of his head, and the others went back to their snacks and the movie. Oh God, weirdness. Heero Yuy didn't do flirty and Duo Maxwell definitely didn't do flustered, but there they were.

They hadn't liked each other much during the war. He'd shot Heero at their first meeting, and whatever Heero said, he _had_ missed on purpose, because he wasn't that bad a shot. He'd regretted missing sometimes, after Heero had damn _violated_ Deathscythe. They'd survived the war, somehow, and then ended up as partners in Preventers. They'd worked well enough together, their very different personalities complementing each other.

They hadn't really become friends until then. There'd always, from the very start, been a competitive edge to their relationship, an edge like a serrated blade. Both of them always wanting to be on top. It had still been there, a bit, but somehow outside work it had translated into fun stuff; marathon games of pool, and dirt-biking, and rock-climbing on weekends.

And sure he'd been _attracted_ to Heero, pretty much from day one, but he'd been fifteen and high as a kite most of that year anyway from adrenalin and hormones and whatever chemical cocktails G had been pumping into him. Some days, he'd even thought Sandrock looked pretty cute, so it had been easy enough to write off the Heero-attraction.

It had never gone away though. He'd waited, after the war, and he'd known that Heero'd been attracted right back, but he'd never made a move and Duo, really, was fairly easy under the right circumstances and he'd definitely have gone for Heero, if he'd got even the teeniest bit of encouragement.

He'd figured Heero wasn't all that into him, or was worried that sex would mess up the friendship, or their working relationship, or whatever went on in Heero's head that didn't make sense to anybody else in the world because, seriously, sex was the best thing in the world, pretty much, so how could it mess anything up?

And then Heero had kissed him after drinking a glass of eggnog, and everything had changed.

They'd behaved for a full day, while the others were still there. Eaten leftovers and watched crappy Christmas TV and played board games. Then they'd waved their friends off on the following morning, and fallen into bed.

Well, that was the romantic version at least. In reality, Duo had closed the front door, and Heero had slammed him against it. They hadn't made it to the actual bed for a couple of hours, although they'd tried out pretty much every horizontal or vertical surface in Duo's apartment on the way. When they had finally stumbled into bed, they'd stayed there for three days, apart from the occasional trip to the bathroom or kitchen, which inevitably led to more sex in the shower, or on the table or wherever, and then on the fourth morning Duo had had to drag his aching ass out the door to fly to Australia for a mission.

They'd never really talked about it, about being a couple or boyfriends or lovers or whatever. They just – were.

He'd wanted it to be a tradition, the five of them getting together once a year. Well, six if you counted Zechs, and Wufei obviously was, these days. It hadn't worked out this year though. Quat's sisters had wanted him to host a big fancy shindig on L4, and then Trowa and Duo had got mission orders, and Zechs had whisked Wufei off to Paris for the holiday, since the big reunion clearly wasn't going to happen.

Not much of a tradition, if it only happened once, Duo thought dolefully, taking a sip from his glass as he slid two muffins into the toaster. Actually, it wasn't bad. Home-made eggnog obviously trumped the stuff that came in cartons.

He sat on the countertop, looking around, waiting for the toaster to ping. Heero had put up the shelves he'd been talking about for his cookery books, and got a couple of new pots of herbs. It was still kind of funny that Heero had turned out to be the only really domesticated one of the five of them. Duo could cook enough to keep himself from starving to death, and he liked doing crafty stuff, but Heero actually seemed to enjoy cleaning and laundry and all the home maintenance shit, sometimes dragging Duo around their local DIY stores, on quests for door handles or light fittings or whatever.

He'd bought flowers too; big white ones in a vase in the middle of the table.

That was a first. They didn't have the sort of relationship where they did flowers and cards and endearments. He hadn't a clue what sort of relationship they _did_ have, most of the time. Quat and Trowa were perfect soulmates, and 'Fei and Zechs had this whole baroque high romance thing going on, but he hadn't a clue how to classify what he and Heero had.

They'd never even had a conversation about being exclusive or any of that – they'd just sort of fallen into it and all he knew was that he liked being with Heero, more than anyone, and Heero felt the same about him.

He was pretty sure, at least.

It was nice being back.

Nicer a few minutes later when Heero came downstairs. He didn't have Duo's issues with the cold, so he was just in his boxers. Really nice, Duo decided, taking a long look. He hadn't been given a whole lot of time to take in the scenery the night before.

'You're up early.'

'I was hungry.' Duo motioned to the remains of his breakfast, and handed Heero a muffin and poured him a glass of eggnog. 'This is really good. Way nicer than the stuff I had last year.'

He clinked his glass against Heero's and took a bigger gulp and suddenly, just like that, everything was OK.

Just Duo and Heero having breakfast in Heero's kitchen, and it was fucking _great_. One of those fairly rare moments that just _happened_ sometimes, when it seemed like everything in the entire universe, everything had that had ever taken place from the beginning of time, had somehow conspired to make this moment possible for the two of them.

He grinned at the idea of it, and when he looked up from drinking, Heero was smiling too.

'All right?'

'Totally,' he said quietly, knowing what Heero was asking, knowing, at that precise moment in time, it was true; that there was no where else in the universe he would have preferred to be, no one he would have preferred to be with.

'I wanted last night to be perfect, you know,' he said after a pause when they both crunched toasted muffins and drank eggnog. 'This big anniversary thing. And I was a total jerk to you. I'm really sorry. I just took all my shit out on you. I was tired, and I'd had two hellish days at the hospital, with Tro. God, all I could think was having to tell Quat if anything happened. You know.'

Heero leaned over and kissed him. 'I just wanted you to come back in one piece.'

'Yeah.'

Duo tried not to sigh. They'd talked about it, about Heero wanting him to quit fieldwork, and Duo had promised to think about it. He had, that was the problem. He'd thought about giving up being an agent and he didn't want to. He'd sort of compromised a few months ago. No more black ops, nothing deep undercover, nothing where he'd be out of contact for too long. He'd thought that might be enough, for a while anyway. It was just going to get worse, now that Trowa had decided to resign; one of Duo's top arguments for staying on as an agent had always been that Tro needed him as a partner.

Wasn't going to work any more.

He took a bite of muffin, just for something to do, then grinned at Heero. 'So. You got me flowers, huh?'

He'd meant to tease, but Heero just nodded. 'Do you like them?'

'Yeah.' He was blushing a little bit, for some stupid reason. 'They're nice. Really. I got you something as well. Kind of a Christmas or anniversary gift. Whatever. We can swing by my place to get it later, if you want.'

'Hn. We'll see. Do you need to go into HQ today?'

'Nope. Done all my reports and de-briefing. I'll go in tomorrow, I guess. See Une. See what's on the list. Not that I can do much, with Tro out of action anyway. Listen, I was meaning to ask, you know Tahiti or wherever they're having the wedding?'

'I've heard of it, yes.' There was a sudden, pronounced glint in Heero's eyes. 'It's the largest island in French Polynesia, in the South Pacific. An ex-French colony.'

'Yeah, well, I knew that,' Duo said, and then laughed. 'OK, I could've looked it up. The Pacific, seriously? I was thinking, might be nice to fly out there a few days before the wedding. Take a little vacation, just us. What d'you think?'

'I'd like that, yes.'

'Cool.' Duo slurped the remains of his drink. 'You won't have a problem getting time off?'

'I can take my laptop.'

Duo laughed. 'I'd be surprised if you didn't.'

'So, plans for the day?'

'Hmm.' Duo thought about it. 'I've got a bag of dirty laundry. Need to swing by my place at some point. Water the plants and stuff. Maybe go to the supermarket and stock up the fridge. Nothing that won't keep. Maybe go back to bed for a bit first.'

There was a teeny, tiny smile lurking around the corners of Heero's mouth. 'Of course. You must be still tired.'

'Yeah, shattered,' Duo played along, one hand playing with his tangled hair. 'Probably go straight to sleep, unless you know, someone felt like trying to keep me awake for a while. Keep me up.'

'I could possibly do that.' Just like that, he was hauled out his chair, and pressed against the wall, with Heero pressed against him.

'No! I want to do it in bed for once, like civilised people.'

'Oh, you want civilised now, do you?' Heero teased, pinning Duo's hands behind his back, and leaning in to kiss.

Very gentle; the sort of kiss that was somehow way more connected than when they had their tongues down each others' throats. It was that sort of easy, lazy morning; flowers and talking and sweet, unhurried, intimate kisses. Heero actually held his hand as they walked back upstairs. They even undressed and made it to the bed without jumping each other, miracle of miracles, and then Duo was lying on his back, with Heero on top of him, tracing out Duo's body with hands and mouth.

He was so _good_ at this, Duo thought hazily, while he still had a little bit of capacity for thought, before Heero moved down a bit further and started to treat Duo's cock like a precious, priceless delicacy, all swirling licks up the shaft and then his tongue lapping at the head. So good that he didn't notice at the start that Heero was sliding a finger into his ass.

'Hey, fly boy,' Duo reached down and caught his wrist. 'If you want to go there, try to go easy on the throttle, OK? I can still feel you from last night.'

Heero's hand stilled at once, but there was a pronounced smirk on his face. He'd have tried to apologise once, scared he might have hurt Duo. It hadn't taken him all that long to realise that Duo wasn't exactly a fragile blossom though; that he sometimes liked it hard and fast and on the border of rough, and he especially liked being able to feel it, after.

Now, he just pinched Duo on the butt, and rested his chin on Duo's thigh, looking up at him. 'Do you want to switch over? I don't mind.'

'It's OK.' God, not that he wasn't tempted. They'd traded positions at the beginning; not so much anymore. Duo liked pretty much anything and everything but he'd copped on fairly soon that Heero wasn't really fond of bottoming, even though he'd never actually admitted it, and it wasn't much fun being on top if your partner wasn't totally into it. 'I'm good once you take it a bit slower than last night, yeah? Just ease into the parking bay, nice and gentle; you copy me?'

'Copy.' Heero bit the inside of his thigh, lightly enough but there'd be a mark, probably, and then pressed a trial of achingly slow kisses up to Duo's hip. 'Slow and steady. Right.'

'Fucking tease,' Duo moaned. Damn. He'd essentially given Heero Yuy licence to _torture_ him, and Heero was the one with the inhuman stamina, while Duo was essentially all about instant gratification. Oh, he was going to regret this.

'Haven't fucked you yet, Maxwell,' Heero retorted. 'Haven't even started, properly.' He dipped his tongue into Duo's belly-button, and then looked up, meeting Duo's eyes. 'You did say you wanted it slow, didn't you? '


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: The Gundam Wing universe does not, lamentably, belong to me and I make no monetary profits from writing.

**Chapter 2/3:**

There were some very definite advantages to being best friends with a multi-billionaire, like getting to use his private jet to fly off to the tropical island he'd hired for his wedding. Oh, yeah. Duo'd been in the jet before, of course, plenty of times, but it was the first time he'd been in it alone with Heero, and he'd imagined it would be an excellent opportunity to introduce Heero to the joys of the Mile High Club.

The stewardess had served drinks and a selection of snacks, and informed them that Mr. Winner's chef would have dinner ready in a couple of hours and to ring if they wanted anything else. Very charming, very discreet.

Then she'd retreated fairly hastily into the galley, closing the door behind her with a firm click that made Duo grin, despite everything. He was willing to bet that anyone who'd worked for Quatre for any length of time was well-versed in knowing when to make a strategic exit. She'd probably got an eyeful once too often, since Trowa didn't give a damn about other people being around and generally just grabbed Quat whenever he felt like it.

She'd got it wrong this time though. No chance of the sex happening with her current passengers. Bloodshed, yeah, quite possibly, but not the sex.

Duo morosely took a couple more chocolate truffles from the silver tray on his side table, and washed them down with a sip of champagne. He didn't even like the stuff, much, but figured it was an acquired taste, and he'd better acquire it before the wedding when there were bound to be all sorts of toasts to the happy couple and, as Trowa's best man, he'd have to make a few himself.

This was all very nice – squashy leather seats that reclined if you wanted, and his own flat-screen TV, and a well-stocked mini-bar a couple of paces away. All good.

Of course, it would be even better if Heero would talk to him, but they'd had a massive row two days ago and Heero had been freezing him out since then. Not fair since it was all Heero's fault in the first place, and it had come at the end of a really nice few weeks.

Shit.

He'd been in Sanq for nearly three weeks after Christmas, and he'd ended up staying at Heero's for most of it. His heating pipes had frozen up, and even after he'd spent a couple of days fixing them, it had seemed kind of normal and nice just to go back to Heero's at night.

It wasn't – quite – the longest stretch they'd spent together, but definitely the most domesticated. Since Trowa wouldn't be cleared for field-work for another full month, and was taking time off for the wedding on top of that, Duo had spent the whole time in Sanq. 

He'd had a day or two shuffling paperwork and files of old cases he and Tro had worked, and then got sidelined into teaching a batch of newbies some basic stealth and infiltration techniques, which had been fun. Then, there'd actually been a couple of days working with Heero, whose department was short-handed after the holidays, and that had been pretty good, especially the twenty minutes they'd spent in the filing room with the door jammed shut. Actually, even the work had been kind of interesting, once he got the hang of it.

After that, there'd been a few days in R&amp;D testing out new weapons and security systems, which was amazing, and he'd given a few lectures on some of his more successful cases, and finished up with a literal bang, going out with the bomb disposal guys and blowing shit up.

It had all been good, really. He and Heero had driven to and from HQ together; worked out in the Preventers gym or swam in the pool before work; ate lunch at the same table in the canteen. Had a few nice little illicit liaisons; as well as the filing room, there'd been Heero's swivel chair, and the desk Duo had been using, and the photocopier in the main office while everyone else was at lunch.

They'd got to do stuff in the evenings and at weekends as well; they'd gone to the movies, and the rifle range, and driven out of town a couple of times to go skiing in the mountains, and met up with Wufei and Zechs for dinner, where those two had been so dreamily adoring and attentive that Duo had dragged Heero into the men's room before desert, and given him a filthy, sloppy blow-job in one of the stalls, just as an antidote to all the sap, and Heero had screwed him over the hood of the car before driving them home.

All good, like being a regular couple with 9-5 jobs, and because he was dumb as a bag of hammers sometimes, he hadn't worked it out by himself.

He'd been in the elevator, three days ago, with Mason, an agent he knew a little bit by sight. And after one mission in Colombia, they'd known each other very well by sound and touch and taste and smell, for the space of about fifteen minutes in the showers. There'd been a little bit of small talk – Mason was married now; surprise surprise, and they were expecting a baby - and then he'd asked, casually enough, if it was true that Duo had decided to go for the instructor's vacancy or the one in R&amp;D because he'd heard the rumours.

Duo had laughed it off, barely, and stormed off to find Heero.

God, he was an idiot, and he hadn't seen any of it. It had all seemed so natural; not the first time he'd spent a few weeks in Sanq between jobs, waiting for a mission to come off, or recovering from some injury or other. He'd helped out before in different departments, as needed.

Heero had freaking orchestrated the whole thing; showing Duo the options he'd have if he came in from the field; showcasing what their lives could be like.

By the time he got to Heero's office, he'd built up such a head of steam, that he practically tore the door of its hinges when he stormed in. 'You _bastard_!' He took a swing at Heero's head; Heero ducked at _precisely_ the last minute.

'What the _hell_, Maxwell?'

'You tell me, why don't you?' Duo had yelled. 'You've been setting me up! Who else was in on this little stunt, Yuy? Une, obviously. Anyone else?'

'Duo!' Heero hissed, brushing past him to slam the door shut. 'This is hardly the place…'

'Oh, I think this is _exactly_ the place!' Duo had shot back. 'Considering everyone in this damn _place_ seems to know more about my business than I do, and you've been busy sorting out my whole fucking life without telling me.'

'It's not like that!'

'No?' Duo glared at him. 'Right, then. You tell me, Heero, exactly what it _is_ like, why don't you? Tell me you haven't been making up some sort of agenda to shove me in some nice little department where the worst that can happen to me is a paper-cut. _Tell_ me. What else have you done, you asshole? Told Une I want to give up field work? That I need to be shown all the safe, boring-as-fuck jobs I could do instead? Well, screw you, because I don't want any of them!'

'Duo, shut up!' Heero didn't shout very much; that was Duo's job, so he had actually obeyed, out of sheer shock. 'It wasn't like that! All right, maybe I did mention something to Une about how you might be considering a new position and that it might be useful to let you see your options. That's all. I don't know why you're making such a big deal out of it. You did say you were thinking about quitting as an agent.'

'_Thinking_ about it. Maybe. One day. And I'm making a big deal about you going to your boss, _our_ boss, behind my back and not even telling me. _I'll_ decide when to quit, and _I'll_ decide what I'm going to do, after, and since you pulled this stunt on me, you needn't think you're going to be involved at any stage of it.'

Heero had looked really hurt, just for a second, and then his eyes had blazed into Duo's. 'Fine, then. I'm perfectly used to that; to you not wanting me involved in your life.'

Duo had stalked out then, and that had been that. They'd had two days of barely talking, beyond making arrangements for the flight. They'd had sex once; no words, no laughter; no affection, not much of anything beyond Heero sliding into him, and now they were flying off to spend two weeks alone on a tropical island, before the two happiest couples in the universe arrived.

Shit.

Two fucking weeks. Or non-fucking, probably, because there was no damn way he was going to let Heero touch him again while they were like this. He could live with angry sex from Heero, they'd done that before, but not Heero treating him like some nameless hooker he was paying by the hour.

The trip had seemed like the best idea ever, when he'd had initially thought of it, and of course Quat had been all over the idea, insisting they take longer than the couple of days they'd originally talked about. And it turned out that Heero had vacation time that he needed to take, and Duo didn't really have anything enthralling on his schedule, and Quat had ended up giving them a list of pre-wedding things to check up on before he and Trowa arrived. Nothing all that arduous; just taking photos around the island, and trying out different menus, and checking the accommodation, and yeah, the resort had someone who co-ordinated weddings, and Quat had hired his own planner, but he'd still wanted his best friend there, keeping an eye on things, and he _was_ officially Tro's best man, so he was stuck with the damn holiday.

He didn't know why Heero hadn't just pulled out.

Duo drained his champagne; nope, still hadn't acquired the taste. Stupid bubbly stuff. 'Heero, can we talk? Please?'

Heero didn't say anything, invisible behind his laptop save for the messy mop of hair.

'Hey,' Duo said to the lid of the laptop. 'You know, even if you do ignore me for the next two weeks, you won't be able to keep the silent treatment up once the others get arrive. Not unless you want them all getting into our business. And I'm pretty sure you don't want that.' 

No answer. 

Well, _shit_. Duo stood up, reached over and slammed the laptop lid closed. With maybe just a little bit more force than was strictly necessary. 

Heero just rolled his eyes. 'I was _working_, Duo. That's just childish.'

'Yeah,' Duo snapped back. 'And you sulking and not talking to me 'cause we had a row, that's so mature, right?'

'Well, maybe we had the row because you never seem to consider anything except what Duo Maxwell wants. Maybe I'd rather not see the man I love going off to risk his life every couple of weeks. Did you ever even consider that?'

Duo's jaw dropped. _'What_ did you just say?'

Heero glared at him. 'You heard me perfectly well. Oh, don't act stupid. You know I love you, or are you going to pretend we're really just each other's personal fuck-toys or whatever it is you seem to think half the time?'

'No!' Duo stammered. 'I just - I didn't know we were at the point where we said it. You know, out loud.'

'Well, one of us apparently is,' Heero snapped, razors-dipped-in-acid embedded in each syllable.

__'I love you too, you fucking asshole,' Duo shot back. If they were going to talk about emotions and all that, there was no damn way he was letting Heero claim the moral high ground. 'And yeah, I get that you're worried about me but you could just try trusting me! Trust that I'm able to look after myself.' His eyes narrowed. 'Is that it, Heero? You don't fucking trust me? What, you think I'm gonna get lonely on assignment and hook up with some random agent?

Heero's lip curled. 'Well, you've already slept with most of them.'

'Oh, fucking _no_!' Duo yelled, because, yeah, OK, he'd been around the track a fair few times, but so what? Wasn't like Heero had given him any reasons not to. 'You did _not _say that, Yuy.'

'Why not?' Heero demanded coolly. 'It's true, isn't it? You always say you don't lie. Are you planning to start now and say you haven't messed around with half the agency?'

'If I did it was all your fault! What was I supposed to do; sit around with my finger up my ass 'til you got a goddamn clue? _Save_ myself for you?'

'Maybe you could have shown you were interested in me instead of screwing anyone who didn't move fast enough!'

'Well, screw _you_! Exactly what else could I have done to show I was interested? I did everything short of pretending to fall over and landing on your dick! And if you weren't such a moron, you'd have copped that me screwing anyone that moved was trying to make you jealous so you'd actually _do_ something!'

Heero's jaw dropped. 'What?'

'You heard. And maybe if _someone _had taken his head out of his damn ass years ago, I wouldn't have had to sleep with anyone else who _was_ interested in me. OK, maybe I didn't wait for you, but you _knew_ I was into you, and fuck, Heero, you know what? I _did_ wait, actually. I waited over a year for you to get your shit together after the war before I gave up, and even when I was with other guys, none of it meant a fucking thing because they weren't you, and if you'd given me even a shadow of a hint that you wanted to be with me, I'd never have looked at anyone else in the universe. _Never_, Yuy. And you know something else? I spent years hoping you'd realise I wanted you, and waiting for you, but I never even thought once about trying to pressure you into something you weren't ready for. _Never_. So why don't you just think about that?'

'I haven't been pressuring you!' Heero objected, and then had the decency to go red.

'Yeah, you have. Come _on_, Heero. Be honest. You have, and I trusted you enough to let you make the decision for yourself, when _you_ were ready. So what does that fucking say about who loves the other one more?'

'You didn't ever have to watch me die!' Heero yelled back. 'You didn't have to sit in that hospital after you got shot in Uganda. They didn't think you were going to make it, Duo, for days, and you didn't even know how I felt about you.' 

'Yes, I damn well _did_ have to watch you die! Millions of times! I spent the whole bloody war watching you try to kill yourself. Jumping out of windows and blowing up your damn Gundam in front of me and fighting duels and going around the world and practically begging people to kill you, you maniac! And then the whole Libra thing. So don't you _dare_ say I don't know what it's like watching someone you love do stupid stuff and nearly die because I know _exactly_ how it feels to have your heart stop right in your fucking chest! And stop looking at me like that!'

God, not like he could work out Heero's expression. Fondness mixed with wonder that Duo had said something amazing. 'You cared that much about me ….during the war? Back then?'

'YES! No! Maybe …kind of. How was I supposed _not_ to care about you, Heero? You were this total lunatic with a death wish and you didn't kill me, and you wore those stupid _shorts_ all the time and I don't think you said a single nice word to me, _ever_, and you kept swearing at me in Japanese and...'

'Baka,' Heero said softly.

'Baka yourself,' Duo retorted. He was smiling though. 'Are we …not arguing now?'

'We don't seem to be, no.'

'That's good, right?' Duo leaned down and licked the tip of his nose. 'Can we go to the make-up sex now? Since we're in this fancy jet and all, I thought we could go for the super-deluxe version.'

'OK.' Heero caught his chin in one hand and kissed him. 'Let me lock the door first. I'd rather none of the crew walked in on us because we're making too much noise or anything.'

'Oh, please,' Duo snorted. 'Like we haven't been yelling at each other for the past however long it is? There's no way they're coming in here; bet Quat has them well trained anyway. Probably terrified to come anywhere near the the main cabin.' He stretched against Heero's body. 'Come on, fly boy. Feels like you're packing some serious heat there. Lock and load.'

Best thing ever : super-deluxe sex on a plane. The Earth moving without you even having to do anything. After, they both curled up in Heero's seat, kissing, Duo's hand caressing Heero's softened cock.

'I'm sorry,' he said quietly. 'I get it; you worry about me. I _get_ it, Heero. But it needs to be my decision, to give it up.'

'I know.' Heero pressed closer to him, and Duo sighed.

'I will. I swear. When I'm ready.'

'Don't I get to have any say in your decision?'

'You've had your say, Heero. Trust me, I know _exactly_ where you stand on all this. And just for the record, you know, it's a lot more than you gave me, when _you_ resigned. You never bothered telling me you were going to do that.'

'I did tell you.'

'After you'd done it, yeah. That sucked, you know. We were partners. For over three years. And you just decided to walk away after Uganda, and you never ever talked about it with me, so seriously, I don't really think you can talk any involvement and sharing and shit.'

'We weren't… together, back then.'

'Oh, screw you. We were partners. A team. Friends. OK, there wasn't the sex, but we were together, the two of us.'

Heero nuzzled into his neck; an odd sort of almost-argument, this. By this stage, Duo would usually be on his feet and yelling before taking off, and Heero would have gone all blank and emotionless. Maybe they should have all their arguments on a plane in future so they had to stay and fight it out 'til the bitter end. Although there were always parachutes: one of them would probably just jump out if things got too personal. Actually, Heero probably wouldn't even bother with a parachute.

'You never said,' Heero said finally. 'About how you felt.'

'Wasn't much point, was there? You'd decided. Whatever.'

Heero kissed him then; a rather clumsy meeting of lips and tongue. 'It was because of you. That I resigned, after the mission in Uganda. You were so badly hurt, and I was blaming myself, and I didn't think you'd ever be back on active duty, even if you did live.'

'Oh, you moron,' Duo swore. 'You fucking baka. Of course it wasn't your fault. It was mine; I rushed the surveillance, didn't sweep the warehouse properly. You _know_ that, Heero.'

'I know, yes,' Heero said promptly, which was a bit unflattering if Duo thought about it. 'But it doesn't change things. You nearly died. Even if I'd stayed on, I couldn't have worked as your partner again, watched you going into danger. Not after that.'

'Don't,' Duo said shortly, sliding one finger against Heero's mouth. 'Just…don't. OK? Please?'

He'd known, of course, that it had been hard on his friends, his partner, waking outside his hospital room. He'd never let himself think just how bad it might have been for Heero, especially. He hadn't known that Heero, back then, had cared. Not as anything more than a friend and a work partner.

Heero let the finger rest there for a second, silent, and then his lips parted, sucking it in. Duo let him, curled it on Heero's tongue, and Heero licked gently. Duo's eyes met Heero's, wide at the intimacy of it. They'd sucked each other off a million times; never done this.

'You never told me any of that,' he said, wondering.

Heero sucked at his finger and kissed the tip, and then let him go. 'Would it have made any difference? To anything? To us?'

Duo pulled in a deep breath, placing his hand carefully on his thigh. 'Dunno. Maybe.'

He'd never told Heero how hurt he'd felt by his abrupt resignation, never told anyone, although he thought Quatre had guessed. He'd been outwardly supportive; told Heero that of course he had to do what he thought was best for himself, for his career, and organised the leaving party and the gift and slowly began to spend less and less time with his former partner, to put a little distance between the two of them.

His friend, supposedly, although friends, partners shouldn't do shit like that. Yet another person who'd gone and left him.

'Yeah. You should have told me.'

Heero didn't say anything to that, just rested his head against Duo's shoulder and took one hand in his. Duo didn't say anything either. They didn't have conversations like this, really; and he didn't know what to say, so he just put one arm around Heero's shoulders and hugged him.

'It's OK,' he said a bit aimlessly. 'We both did some stupid stuff, right? And we still ended up together. Must have done something right though, somewhere. I mean, we're on this amazing jet and we're going to stay in this insanely lush resort, that we have all to ourselves for the next couple of weeks. I'd say we're doing, OK, wouldn't you?'

The inane babbling clearly worked; Heero lifted his head and he was smiling. 'I meant what I said. Before.'

'Good. Love you too.' Duo kissed the smile, feeling his own lips curving. It was better saying it when he wasn't flinging the words at Heero, like a curse, like a declaration of war. 'We're good, yeah? Ready for a nice little vacation in paradise?'

Paradise, truly, he reflected hours later; after the jet had landed, there'd been a short seaplane flight, and then a boat ride to get to their destination. Not Tahiti, actually, but a small island in the same archipelago. Duo had skimmed over the brochures Quatre had sent them on-line; the resort's main accommodation was in an old French colonial mansion, where Quat's sisters and their families would be staying for the wedding. The rest of the guests would be housed in their own private bungalows built over the water. He'd drooled over the photos but they hadn't come within a million miles of the reality. Their home for the next two weeks was in the middle of glittering aquamarine waters. Heero just nodded as they were shown around by their own private butler, clearly wanting the man to go and leave them alone, but Duo's eyes got larger and larger until he felt they were about to pop.

OK, he'd stayed in damn fancy places before; Quatre's various homes, and Relena's pretty palace, and a few mansions on assignment, but none – _none_ – of them offered a master bed-room, with a curving wall of glass overlooking the Pacific. Wowsie. He and Heero listened while the butler explained about meals and activities and pointed out their bungalow's special features – hot tub on the deck! – and then smilingly left them alone.

'Oh, my God!' Duo took a flying leap on to the giant bed, landing in a cloud of pillows, and flopped over on to his stomach. 'Did you _hear_ all that? We can get our meals delivered by canoe! We can feed stingrays after lunch! Snorkel with turtles!' He gave Heero his most winsome smile. 'Can we stay here forever? Please?'

'Why not?' Now that they were alone, Heero was about as relaxed as Duo had ever seen him, smiling softly as he walked over to sit on the bed. Nothing like a good screaming match followed by screamingly-good sex to clear the air. Something else was just a little bit different, though. Heero had an unusually soft, intense expression in his eyes when he looked at Duo. It made his stomach feel a bit fluttery, had made him blush a couple of times.

'Cool! Think you can afford it?'

They didn't talk about it much, but Heero was pretty damn loaded. Since becoming Preventers' personal IT guru, he'd patented a couple of nifty software packages. Of course, being Heero, he'd bought his house and his car, and put the rest of it into some high-interest investment scheme instead of going out and having actual fun.

'For about two days, probably.' He leaned over and pulled Duo's braid. 'If you like this place so much, you should have taken up with Quatre.'

'Maybe I should've,' Duo teased. 'I bet our little Blondies's a total tiger in the sack. I mean, Tro always looks like the cat who got the canary _and_ the cream, right? Suppose it's too late now though, unless he fancies one last fling before tying the knot. Ow! I was joking! Hands off the hair!'

Heero, who'd given his braid another good yank, grinned at him.

'OK, message received. No hitting on Quat. Oh, that's _nice_.' He shifted closer, resting his head on Heero's leg as Heero began to stroke his braid, very gentle this time. 'Not like he'd ever look at me anyway. Not when Trowa's in the same universe.'

'I'm looking at you,' Heero promised. 'Always.'

'You'd better, or I _will_ go and cruise Quat,' Duo wiggled his ass and got a slap across it. 'Hey! What's with you and all the domestic violence?'

'What's with you and all the talking about having sex with Quatre Winner?' He had one hand moving in slow, lazy circles on Duo's backside; oh, very nice.

'Just joking. You know that. Not planning to sleep with anyone else. Wouldn't have the energy for one thing.' He twined his fingers into Heero's. 'Don't be jealous, 'Ro.'

'I'm not. I know you wouldn't.'

'Good.' He looked into Heero eyes, very directly. 'Look. There's been no-one since you. Since us.'

He wasn't – entirely sure if Heero had realised that. Their first time had been all about the sex, and then weeks apart with Duo off in deep cover. They'd never discussed the whole exclusive thing, but after a couple of months, Duo had said they could stop using protection if Heero liked, so clearly…the exclusiveness had been implied, even if he'd never said it straight out. He'd wanted to get tested first, just to be on the safe side. Sure, he'd always been careful. Yeah, OK, to be brutally honest, he'd _mostly_ been careful. He'd been Heero's first; he'd never have been able to forgive himself if he'd passed on anything nasty.

Heero didn't say anything at first, just smiled down at him with _that_ look in his eyes again, and Duo's stomach did a couple of back-flips.

Deep-down, there was a tiny part of him resenting the fact that Heero had thought…had believed there had been other people, but then again, he probably deserved it. It wasn't like he'd exactly been celibate. Wasn't like he hadn't flaunted the lack-of-celibacy in front of Heero, just a bit, trying to get a reaction.

'So, how 'bout we try out this huge bed for size?'

Heero shook his head. 'I'd rather go for a swim. We've been sitting down for hours.'

'Seriously?' Duo didn't mind swimming; it was good exercise and all that, but he wasn't the water baby Heero was. 'Hello! L2 to Heero Yuy!You have me in the world's biggest bed, and you want to go for a _swim_? Instead of having sex?'

Heero grinned. 'I don't think the two necessarily are mutually exclusive.' Duo got another swat on the ass. 'Now, come on. I've been sitting down for the last twenty-four hours.'

Duo huffed a little, but let Heero pull him up. 'Fine. Whatever. But if you keep hitting my butt like that, Yuy, you won't be getting anywhere near it.'

'No? I thought you liked it.'

'Huh. Well, I don't.' Not entirely true, but Heero didn't need to know quite how much he did like it, on occasion. Duo stuck his nose in the air, walked over to his suitcase. OK, maybe there'd be some advantages to going for a swim. Heero's trunks weren't _quite_ as fitted as his old spandex shorts, but they were shorter, and clung in all the right places…to all the right places.

'Duo? What are you doing?'

'Uh, getting changed? For swimming?'

Heero laughed. 'Why bother? There's no one else here.'

Duo turned, smiling. 'You want to go skinny dipping?'

'Why not?'

'Why not, right.' He took Heero's hand as they walked outside to the deck, just because it felt right. Just the two of them, in paradise.

The water was warm and limpid and crystal clear and there were shoals of multi-coloured psychedelic fishes swimming around them. OK, he could like swimming when it was like this. Especially when Heero wound both arms around him, and backed him into the shallower water under the bungalow, up onto their private beach.

'All right?' Heero asked softly, quite a while later.

'Yeah,' Duo said. Mostly true. Honestly, his ass hurt like hell; seawater and a bit of spit didn't exactly make the best lubricants, and he'd been way too impatient to let Heero spend enough time stretching him, and he had sand in places where he shouldn't have sand – places that were sore enough without extra irritants, but there was no way he was telling Heero any of that, spoiling what they'd had. Besides, he _was_ all right, really. 'I'm good. Great.' He shifted carefully on to his side, pressing closer to Heero's body. 'Should be like this all the time. Perfect, seriously. So …easy.'

Heero put both arms around him. 'Maybe it can be.'

Duo snorted through his nose: shit, he had sand there as well. 'This is us, right? Better enjoy it while we can.'


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: The Gundam Wing universe does not, lamentably, belong to me and I make no monetary profits from writing.

Note: many thanks to KS for reminding me of this one's existence.

Pairings: 1x2, 3x4, implied 6x5. No 2x3 whatsoever.

**Chapter 3/3:**

'So, which of them was calling _this_ time?' Heero asked, exasperated, rolling over in their giant, glorious bed to look at him.

'Trowa. _Again_, right. _More_ damn stuff I can't stay in my speech. Can't mention that time he drank crème de menthe; can't talk about those Chinese twins hitting on him at the circus, the acrobats; can't mention that mission in Amsterdam, or the time him and Quat had sex on that Ferris wheel on L3. At this rate, I won't be able to say anything except his name.'

Heero laughed at that. 'I think it's supposed to be traditional for the best man to embarrass the groom.'

'Yeah.' Duo slouched comfortably against the door frame, taking in the view. 'But it's also traditional for the best man to be given a big fuck-off present and I'm kinda hoping for a speed boat. Don't want to jeopardise that by saying the wrong thing, and Tro's a cranky bastard sometimes.'

'Why on earth would he get you a speed boat?'

'Aw, you know. I've been dropping some pretty heavy hints. Oh, there's been a bit of a change in their plans. They're coming a day earlier than planned; should be here around dinner time. Tro says they fancied getting a bit of quality time – which I'd guess means having lots of sex on the beach - before all the rest of the guests arrive.'

'That makes sense,' Heero nodded. 'Are you planning to stand there all day, or are you coming back to bed?'

'In a sec. Just admiring the scenery. That brochure was right; the views here really are special at sunrise.' Oh, yeah. Amazing sky outside, all pinks and blues and golds dancing together. Just not quite as amazing as Heero Yuy's naked, golden body sprawled over rumpled white sheets.

'Maxwell. Come here. Now.'

'Yes, _sir_.' He measured the distance, took a running leap at the bed, and ended up neatly straddling Heero. 'How's that?'

'Better.' Heero's hands slid up his thighs, settling on his hips. 'God. Just look at you.'

'Super smokin' hot,' Duo agreed, smug, shaking his hair over his shoulders and arching his back.

'Beautiful,' Heero corrected. 'Mine.'

'Every last bit,' Duo agreed cheerfully, swooping down to give him a sloppy, smoochy kiss on the lips. 'Bet I know which bits in particular, huh?'

'Everything,' Heero responded, a bit hoarsely, eyes gone all darkly dilated with desire.

Lots of fun stuff happening south of the border as well, Duo realised, rocking his hips back and forth, making his lover groan. 'Feels like you're getting ready for take-off there, captain. You sure you've got enough gas in your tank, after last night?'

'What do _you_ think?' Heero growled, grabbing him by the waist and pulling him forward.

'Mm, yeah, feels like a pretty full tank all right,' Duo teased. Oh, God, that felt _amazing_. 'And I just happen to have this super-jet-fuel hanging around somewhere.' He kissed Heero again, just enough distraction to rummage under the bed for the lube. 'Recommended by pilots everywhere for a smooth ride and super acceleration, I hear.'

Heero groaned again, deep in his throat 'You do it. I want to watch.'

Duo grinned. 'Show before take-off costs extra, Yuy.'

'Just _do_ it, Maxwell,' Heero growled, tightening his grasp on Duo's hips.

OK, he wouldn't be wearing his low-rise swim trunks in public over the next few days, not with the way those fingers were digging into him.

Duo shivered, squirting a dollop of lotion into his palm. God, he wouldn't have admitted it under torture, but getting bossed around in bed was a total turn-on, Heero using _that_ voice, and looking at him the way he was, and the hard press of hands against his skin.

'Too _slow_, Duo,' Heero muttered impatiently and took over the task himself, fingers pressing somewhere else entirely, and he wasn't capable of thought for quite some time.

'Zowie,' he muttered finally, when his remaining brain cells had migrated back into his head. 'That was, like, one _seriously_ smooth landing. Good piloting there, 'Ro.'

Heero groaned again, not from desire this time. 'Can't you stop those awful puns?'

'Nope,' Duo said brightly. 'Anyway, you do it too, flyboy, and you like it. You know you do.'

'Oh, God, Maxwell. Just shut up.' Heero rolled back on top of him, tongue sliding into Duo's mouth.

Nice way to be shut up, Duo thought idly, wrapping his arms around Heero's neck. It was nice, this sort of lazy, not-going-anywhere-in-particular-but-still-naked kissing. No chance of going anywhere immediately, at any rate, he amended. Maybe in a little bit, but right now, no complaints with the snuggling and the making out.

They'd both got a lot more touchy-feely over the past two weeks. Holding hands and kissing a bit in public, yeah, but also when it was just the two of them. Cuddling and snuggling even when sex wasn't on the agenda straightaway, and curling up together in the hot tub, or the swing seat on the deck to watch the sunrise.

Both of them a lot more relaxed, really. It wasn't _exactly_ that he'd been worried about spending two weeks on an island with Heero, OK, maybe just a teeny bit anxious; it had crossed his mind a time or two that he might get bored at some point. Heero wasn't the most talkative guy in the world; was pretty solitary, really, more than happy to snuggle up with his laptop for hours on end, and Duo liked company, liked having people to talk to, and hang out with.

It had been amazing though, all of it. Somewhere over the past year, with all the sex and the rows and making-up sex after the rows, and the trying to be some sort of couple, he'd lost track of all the reasons why he'd liked Heero as a friend in the first place. The intelligence and curiosity and that very quirky sense of humour; how he always listened to Duo's opinion, asked for his views on things.

'I really like you, you know that,' he announced suddenly.

Heero levered himself up on his elbows and looked down at him, a puzzled little frown wrinkling his forehead. 'I thought you said you loved me.'

'Yeah, yeah, I do, but I really _like_ you as well. As, you know, my friend.'

'OK. I like you too, just so you know.'

'That's cool, then,' Duo murmured, a bit drowsily. A nap really wouldn't be the worst thing right now. Maybe a shower first, even, but that would involve having to get out of bed, and he couldn't do that with Heero moving on top of him, and oh OK, maybe the going-nowhere-kissing was about to go – somewhere.

The sun was high in the sky when he woke up a second time, a lazy breeze whispering through the silk drapes. Duo stretched in an empty bed, listening to the lapping of the sea against their bungalow. 'Hey, Heero?'

'On the deck. Come out. There's lunch.'

Lunch would be good. Movement wasn't. He sat up too fast, winced, and fell back down again. Second time round, it hadn't been quite such a smooth ride; lots of turbulence in fact. 'You damn well _broke_ me, Yuy,' he yelled back. 'Never going to be able to walk again. Never going to be able to get out of this bed.'

'Mission accomplished then,' Heero retorted. 'I like the idea of you being stuck in that bed.'

'Hello! That's what handcuffs are for! And ropes. You didn't have to split me in half.'

'But I liked doing it.'

'Smug asshole.' Duo stuck up one finger in Heero's direction and sat up again.

'You love it,' Heero called back. 'Come and eat, Duo. Lobster salad!'

'I'm not some stray cat, 'Ro. You can't just assume I'll come running just because you've got food.'

'But you always do. There's a whole seafood platter,' Heero tempted. 'That tropical fruit mousse you like. I'm eating it all.'

'Fine! I'm coming!' Duo eased himself carefully out of bed, and pulled on a pair of shorts, something he wouldn't have bothered doing a couple of days ago, but Quat's sisters and their families had started arriving, and he really didn't want to freak anyone out with a little gratuitous nudity. 'Don't you dare eat that lobster, do you hear me?'

They ended up eating on the swing seat, Duo curled up in Heero's lap and Heero feeding him, another thing he was getting very used to, and hell, Heero seemed to enjoy it just as much.

Getting soft, Duo thought lazily. All this was something 'Fei and Zechs would do; maybe Quatre and Trowa in their soppier moments. Not him and Heero. Except, well, they _were_ doing it, and it was great.

'All right?' Heero asked softly, passing him a piece of fresh pineapple. 'Not too broken anymore?'

'All good,' Duo affirmed, swallowing the fruit and then suckling on Heero's fingers. 'Honest, 'Ro. Just not up to anything too energetic for a few hours. It's nice just lying here. Maybe do something later, yeah? I'd love to do another dive, 'round sunset when it's getting a bit cooler. That shipwreck the guide told us about yesterday sounded cool.'

'Really? You want us to go treasure hunting?' Heero chuckled, sliding a slice of mango between his lips.

'Why not? The guy said a lot of old pre-colony Spanish ships sailed this way. They were all carrying gold and jewels and all sorts of stuff.'

'Treasure hunting it is then. What would you buy, if you found anything?'

'A speed boat,' Duo said promptly. 'In case Tro doesn't come up to scratch. And two of those jet-skis would be fun; one each. And maybe a dog. A big one, that we could bring when we go cycling.'

Heero bent and kissed him, licking his mouth open and doing his level best to tickle Duo's tonsils.

'Wow. What was that for?'

'Just for you. I love you. We could get a dog anyway…if you liked. I'm at home most of the time now; it could live with me when you're away. And now I know what to get for your Christmas present next year.'

Duo grinned. 'Kinda hard to wrap up a boat, I'd say. Or put it under a tree. Hey, talking of boats, look out there. Ten o'clock. Someone arriving,' He pointed at a small speck, still far out to sea and they both watched it grow into a boat, zig-zagging into the waves.

'Bet you anything you like that's Trowa driving,' he said suddenly. 'He always drives like a maniac, thinks he's James Bond or something.'

'Do you want to walk down to the dock and meet them?'

'Ugh, no. That would involve me having to move.' He let Heero pull him up, thought, kept their fingers entwined as they walked to the little jetty, watching their friends pull up. They both looked like some kind of advertisement for a gay romance novel or something, Duo decided. Or a porn movie.

Granted, Trowa normally looked like that anyway, given his predilection for spray-on too-small clothes, and not many of them at that. You kind of forgot what was under those business suits Quat generally wore though, or the over-sized sweaters or t-shirts he filched from Trowa's wardrobe.

'Jeez,' he breathed, taking in all the golden glory of Quatre Winner dressed only in microscopic denim shorts, the sun playing on the lights in his hair, and the gold ring in one nipple. When the fuck had Quat got _that_ done? 'Y'know, Heero, I'm kind of reconsidering the whole sleeping-with-Quat thing.'

'Me too,' Heero murmured huskily, and laughed when Duo poked him in the ribs before running forward to hug their friends.

'Hey, great to see you guys! I know Tro said you were coming today, but we didn't expect you this early. Should have, considering the way your man there pilots. And drives a boat, apparently.'

'Officially, we're _not_ here yet; you're the only ones who know,' Quatre explained. 'We really wanted to have a little time to ourselves before all the wedding kerfuffle starts.'

'Cool,' Duo enthused. 'You're looking great, Quat. Like the new look. A lot.'

'Obviously,' Trowa said dryly. 'Since you two pervs can't stop staring at him.'

'Hard not to look,' Duo shot back, grinning at them both. 'What's up, Quat? Business not doing well enough to afford shorts that actually cover your entire ass?'

'Is anyone here actually complaining?' Trowa slid an arm around his blushing partner's waist, and pulled him in for a kiss.

'I don't think we're complaining, no,' Heero said, flicking Duo a quick wink, and Quatre a more lingering, appreciative glance, as they walked back to the bungalow.

'Can we get you a drink or something?' Duo offered. 'We've got all kinds of fresh juices and stuff.'

'Juice sounds good,' Trowa drawled, sprawling on one of the sun-loungers on the terrace.. 'Something with a good kick, Duo. None of those stupid little umbrellas or shit. And some peanuts or something.'

'Jeez, what did your last slave die off, you lazy lump?' Duo grinned at his partner. No, ex-partner now, since he'd resigned. Damn. 'Yeah, whatever. Want to me give me a hand, Quat? You have got to see this place anyway! It's amazing!'

'Oh, it's beautiful,' Quatre enthused. 'It was stunning in the photos, but this…I can't believe we're actually here!'

Duo nodded. 'Gorgeous, right? Come on, help me to take out the drinks and stuff. We get all kinds of fresh juices and smoothies delivered in the morning.' He led his friend inside to the small kitchen, and looked at him. 'You look good, Q. Happy. Tired though.'

'I know,' Quatre sighed. 'The past few weeks have been insane. Trying to organise all of this – you and Heero have been amazing, by the way; there's no way I could have done this without you; it's been so helpful that you were both here, helping to set it all up – _and_ get everything done at WEI so I can take a month off for the honeymoon.'

'_Not_ fun,' Duo sympathised. 'Bet you're sorry now you just didn't elope.'

'We did think of it, actually, but we really wanted you two and 'Fei to be here, and Zechs, and all the girls, and I have some good friends on L4, and Trowa has Cathy and everyone from the circus, and then I had to invite all my sisters or I'd have caused a family feud for the next three generations, and then _they_ wanted to invite people. Oh, it's been crazy, honestly.'

'I believe you,' Duo said, heartfelt. 'Still, you're here now and everything's sorted, pretty much. And your sisters must be OK with you and Tro if they're all going to be here.'

Quatre's mouth twisted. 'Or they fancied the idea of a free holiday. But at least they'll have to stop throwing other men at me if I'm married. Well, hopefully. Let's talk about something else. You and Heero seem to be getting along well.'

'Be hard not to get on in a place like this,' Duo said evasively, and then grinned. 'It's been a dream, Quat. Seriously. Just what we needed, having a bit of time to ourselves. Something we need to do more often, spend time together when we're not tired or stressed or whatever.'

'Everyone needs that. Honestly, that's what the next twenty-four hours are going to be for us. Just some time together.'

'Last few weeks have been rough, huh?' Duo sympathised.

'Stressful, yes. I've had a million things to do, and Trowa's been supposed to be resting after being shot, and you _know_ what a hopeless patient he is, and most of my sisters aren't exactly over the moon about the wedding, and there have been some rather horrible articles in the L4 press about us, about Trowa,'

'Jeez, Quat. You should've said. I didn't know you were dealing with all that.'

Quatre shrugged. 'It's all right, really. You and Heero needed some space of your own, and you were doing so much here anyway. Anyway, it doesn't matter. We're here now, and we're getting married in three days' time, and we've managed to get through the last month without killing each other.'

'Seriously?' Duo asked sceptically. 'You two, fighting? I don't believe it. You always make everything look so damn easy, y'know.'

'When exactly do we make it look easy?' Quatre demanded, tart as lemons marinated in acid. 'That year we nearly broke up? When we hardly saw each other for months? When he's running off to get himself killed every other week and I can't do anything to protect him and practically every member of my family disapproves of us? _Seriously_, Duo? Do you really think any of that is easy?'

'No,' Duo muttered. 'I didn't mean…I don't know what I meant, Quat. Just, you guys are like the most amazing couple ever. I know you've had problems and stuff, but you always just seem so…together.'

His friend gave him a searching look. 'We are,' he said firmly. 'We always will be, but it doesn't just happen, magically. Falling in love, yes. But you have to work at the rest of it. You might like to think about that. Now, you said something about drinks? I'm parched.'

'Sure.' Duo bent down to the little fridge, taking out a variety of drinks. 'So, what's with the new personal decoration? Is it a kind of unusual engagement ring or what?'

Quatre coloured slightly. 'Oh. It's just something I got a couple of months ago. Tro likes it.'

'Yeah, I'll bloody well _bet_ he does. So he didn't get you a proper ring, the stingy bastard.' He shook his head, picking up the tray of drinks he'd laid out and taking them outside. 'God, you're a total cheapskate, Barton.'

'Isn't he?' Quatre sighed, looking soulfully at his unadorned third finger. 'He's refusing to buy me one.'

'Hey! I offered!' Trowa objected, leaning back in his sun-lounger and reaching out one long arm to get a drink. 'In my defence, he's the one with his own diamond mine and he didn't get me one either.'

'It's the principle,' Duo said with all the authority of someone who'd been reading up on wedding etiquette. 'You proposed, Tro; you should've got him a ring.'

'Oh, well, too late now.' Trowa gave Duo a wink and took a long slug of his drink. 'Actually, talking of rings, Duo, can I see for a sec? Inside? Something I need to ask you.' He waited for them to walk inside, and then tossed Duo a small velvet-covered box. 'Right, Maxwell. Best man duties commence here. You lose these, I will actually kill you. And don't read the inscriptions.'

'I won't. Can I just look?'

'If you want.' Trowa shrugged. 'They're just plain gold bands. We didn't want anything fancy. Oh, and there's this as well.'

Duo caught the second box one-handed and smiled at the circle of lustrous gold, set with four chips of aquamarine, and three tiny emeralds. 'Nice,' he approved. 'Not such a skinflint, after all, are you? When are you giving it to him?'

'When we get to our bungalow. I only got it from the jewellers a couple of days ago; it's damn near impossible to get aquamarines on the Colonies, had to get them sent from Earth in the end. I thought I might as well wait 'til we got here to let him have it. Think he'll like it?'

'He'll totally love it,' Duo said positively. 'Listen, I'm supposed to tell you you're not to go crazy at this stag party thing tomorrow. I've even got a list of stuff we're not allowed to do. And I'm to ask if you've written your vows yet.'

'What's to write? I love him to bits, want to wake up with him every day for the rest of my life, see him smiling at me, and then roll him over and fuck him into the mattress. Think that'll do?'

'Seriously? You might want to work on that a bit, up the romance factor and stuff. If you say all that in front of his sisters, he'll have your balls in a vice.'

'You reckon?' He let a slow, utterly filthy smile spread across his face. 'I'm not sure if you know him as well as you think you do.'

Duo actually blushed, turning the little boxes over in his hand. 'So, how's it feel? Being engaged?'

Trowa shrugged. 'Haven't had much time to enjoy it, really. You know Quat; as soon as I popped the question, he was all about colour schemes and menu choices. I'm telling you, once the damn reception's over, I'm not letting him out of the bedroom for the whole honeymoon.'

Duo laughed. 'Oh, you might want to expand your range a little bit. Doing it on the beach is pretty amazing, if you've never tried anything like that. Just make sure he's wearing plenty of sun-screen, with that fair skin of his.'

'Yeah, wouldn't want him getting burnt in sensitive places,' Trowa said. 'It'd all end up being my fault, somehow.'

'What happens after the honeymoon, work-wise? You decided yet?'

'Work?' Trowa echoed distastefully. 'I'm the one who's marrying the gazillionaire, remember?'

'You're just going to settle down as his kept man?' Duo gibed. 'Tro, seriously.'

'Not sure yet. Something in IT, probably. Been talking to Heero a lot.'

'Yeah? He never mentioned that.'

'Well, I gather it's a bit of sensitive issue between the two of you, the whole resigning thing. What about you?'

Duo shrugged. 'He wants me to. I don't. I dunno. This thing with you resigning, is it because you want to or because of Quat?'

'Honestly?' Trowa gave him a long, considering look. 'Mostly Quat. if not for him, I probably wouldn't even be considering it, but….. I can't even justify it to myself any more, that I'm needed; there're other agents out there, good ones, and no real threats. I'm expendable now. I can't keep putting him through that and yeah, I'll miss being in the field. But without him, my life would be so fucking bleak. I can't even imagine. It's not like I'm making this sacrifice, Duo, or he's pressuring me into it. He'd never do that.'

'Lucky you. Heero's been fucking pressuring me for months now.'

'He's hasn't handled it too well, no,' Trowa admitted. 'But it's because he's worried about you.'

'Whatever. Like he doesn't trust me to take care of myself.'

'You know it's not about that. Sometimes, shit just happens, and you're in the wrong place at the wrong time. Like me, last month. It was nobody's fault; no one could've predicted it, but it still happened, and I could've died.'

'Tro, don't talk like that.' Duo shifted uncomfortably; he'd been trying not to think about that, over the past few weeks. He was the one who'd found Trowa, bleeding out, who'd somehow managed to staunch the blood, sat with him in the MedEvac chopper, sat outside the ER for hours.

'It's true, whether you want to hear it or not. I just – I don't want Quat having to go through that again.'

'What would I even do, if I quit?' Duo asked finally, in a very small voice, something perilously close to a whine. He'd been thinking about it over the past couple of weeks; before that even. It wasn't like he had a whole lot to offer, not like the others, with their very specialised skill-sets.

'How would I know? Anything you wanted. Be Heero's kept man. Open a garage. Open some kind of arts and crafts store if you like. You can do whatever you want, Duo. You're only twenty-two, you're not terminally stupid, not all the time, anyway.'

'I guess. It's .. kind of scary.'

'Well, that's a whole other issue. And maybe Heero shouldn't have to suffer because you don't know what you want to do when you grow up.'

Quatre gave them a suspicious look when they walked back outside. 'Trowa, you'd better not be planning any… surprises, do you hear me? I know what those circus friends of yours are like,' he added darkly. 'Duo, I don't care if you're his best man, but you're not to let him do anything crazy on this stag night he keeps talking about.'

'I always hear you, Quat. Don't worry.' Trowa bent and kissed him. 'Sorry, guys. He's a bit cranky; don't mind him. Just needs to get laid; that'll put a smile back on his face.'

'Trowa Barton!'

'Yeah, baby, I know, I know. Just a minute, OK? We've a few things to sort out first. Did you ask Heero about picking up the guys? 'Fei and Zechs are flying in at five thirty; would you two mind going to meet them at the airport? The resort's sending a car, but I'd like it if you could be there too.'

'Yeah, sure,' Duo said instantly, and then groaned. 'God, 'Fei and Zechs though. They won't care if we're there or not, they'll probably be reciting sonnets they've written to each other's toenails or something. I mean, I get everyone goes through this whole loved-up bit at the start, but they've been together for five months now and they're still all gooey about each other. Is that even normal?'

'Oh, it depends,' Trowa said calmly, smiling over at Quatre. 'Some people get lucky.'

'Wow,' Duo marvelled. 'You guys totally had a big romantic moment there.'

'He's been practising,' Quatre said, laughing. 'And, honestly, it would be marvellous if you could meet them. Really, it would be lovely for us to have a few hours just to ourselves, and Wufei keeps asking me how exactly Trowa proposed. I think if he knew the truth, he'd collapse on the spot.'

'Not exactly a big romantic moment?' Heero guessed, laughing.

Quatre laughed. 'Not exactly, no. I forget but I think it may have been something to do with L4 giving tax concessions to married couples.'

'I wanted citizenship actually,' Trowa corrected. 'Plus, I felt sorry for him. Stuck on the shelf at twenty-two. Wasn't like he was going to get any other offers.'

'Excuse me,' Quatre put in. 'I had _plenty_ of other options.'

'Yeah, right. Who'd put up with you?' He leaned over to kiss him. 'Face it, Quat, the only thing you ever had going for you was your looks, and now you've started to put on the weight, you don't even have that.'

Quatre rolled his eyes. 'I am _not_ fat!'

'Not fat, no,' Trowa reassured him. 'Just a bit squidgy 'round the middle. It's OK, I like it. More of you for me to play with, plus a nice little pillow for when I'm down there. Speaking of which, it's time to drag you off and ravish the hell out of you, Winner. Move that cute little ass, Winner. I've got plans for it.'

At the end of the pier, they stopped, clearly arguing over who was going to drive. Then Quat reached up to give Trowa a long kiss before jumping into the speedboat. So perfect, the two of them, Duo thought wistfully, wondering if he and Heero ever looked like that together.

'We're not…like that, are we?' Heero sounded a bit regretful himself, echoing Duo's thoughts, as they turned back to the bungalow.

'Dunno. Sometimes, maybe.'

'Me too. I'd like it all the time.'

'Quat said something about that; that people, I don't know, have to work at….relationships.' He stumbled, just a bit, over the word. 'That we have to, that it won't just happen. Us two, we're like…machinery,' he said suddenly, and Heero stared at him.

'We're _what_?'

'OK, not machines, exactly,' Duo said, groping for the correct words. 'Like…a block and tackle, say. You know, parts that are designed to fit together. Interlocking gears!' He decided, getting into his stride. 'The sort of parts that can last for ever but they do need maintenance now and again, like you can't just assume there won't be wear and tear over time, or a bit of damage sometimes, or that maybe you use the wrong thing for the wrong task, or you're a little bit careless 'cause you're in a rush, or you're thinking about something else, and you're not taking the proper care you should, and you have to use oil every so often to keep things working properly. Does that make any sense?'

Heero just smiled at him. 'So you're saying we need …. oil and maintenance? Is that it?'

Duo flushed. 'Can you think of a better way of putting it?'

'No, not at all. I think it makes perfect sense. For us. What sort of ….oil do we need, do you think? Objectives?'

Duo grinned. Typical Heero; everything had to be a mission. 'Happy ever after.'

'I like that,' Heero approved. 'Now, mission specs. 'I want us to move in together,' He said it a little tentatively and then his voice firmed. 'I mean it, Duo, that's non-negotiable. We've been together for over a year, you spend most of your time at my house anyway, and I hate it when you just get up in the middle of the night and leave. I know you don't like my house, but we can look for a new place that's convenient for Preventers, and big enough for both of us to have some more space. You can have a craft room if you want, a work shop. Anything. Agreed?'

'Yes, sir,' Duo said meekly, and caught the flash of surprise in Heero's eyes. 'Look, Heero. I don't hate your house. It's great. I just never feel I belong there. I don't feel I can leave my stuff lying around. It's like, it's _your_ place, and I can stay over sometimes, but not leave anything of mine there, or you'll be pissed at me messing the place up. Shit, 'Ro, sometimes I move something, like, one inch out of place and you bitch at me for days. How'm I meant to feel comfortable somewhere like that, ever?'

Heero pulled him closer. 'I didn't think you even listened when I said things like that. I don't mean most of it; I do it without even thinking and it's just teasing anyway. I thought you knew. Duo, we shared an office for nearly three years at Preventers and your half was a total mess, and you just laughed whenever I said anything about how you should tidy it.'

'That was different,' Duo told him, in a stating-the-damn-obvious tone. 'That was work. Who cares about that? But your house is like your special place. Don't want to ruin that for you. Seriously, I wasn't sure that you even wanted me there, some of the time. I know you're big into your personal space and all that.'

'It's only special because you're there,' Heero muttered into his neck. 'And the only way you could ruin it is if you left me. I'm sorry if I've ever made you uncomfortable; I never meant to. Never. I've always liked having your things around; I can imagine that you really live with me.'

'Wow.' Duo tilted his head; there was a very uncharacteristic blush staining Heero's cheeks. 'You're seriously saying I can leave my shit wherever I want? And you'll never nag me to tidy up.'

'Well, within limits,' Heero temporised, looking slightly worried.

'Yeah, yeah,' Duo kissed him. 'Limits. I'm good at those. Listen, one thing, I want a bigger bed, one like we've got here, you know?'

'Absolutely!'

'And a dog,' he added excitedly, suddenly on a roll. It was like make a list for Christmas as a kid, except this time he was pretty sure he'd get what he wanted. 'And I want us to get another place; just a little cabin or something that's not too far from the city; in the mountains or by the sea. Somewhere to go at weekends and holidays. Get away from everything. We need that, right? I can buy it when I sell my apartment.'

'No. We'll buy it together. Then it'll be ours,' Heero said decisively. 'I think that's a great idea.' He coughed. 'What about sex?'

'Oh, well, duh,' Duo said enthusiastically. 'That's, like, totally non-negotiable. As often as possible!'

'That wasn't what I meant.' He took one of Duo's hands, traced patterns in the palm with one fore-finger. 'Do you miss it, being on top?'

Duo shrugged. 'Not particularly, nope.'

'I'm being serious. I know that…with other people, you were usually on top. I don't want you to feel you're missing out on something you like. If you want, we can try switching around more often.'

'So? I'm being serious as well, Heero. No, I don't miss it. Most of the time, I just didn't trust anyone else to do that to me, OK? And honest, I'm happy to go either way. I love you doing me, in case you somehow didn't pick up on that. I'm more than happy for to get screwed cross-eyed for the rest of our lives, trust me. If you want to try being underneath 'cause you think it might be fun or whatever, fine, we can try it again. But not if you're only doing to make me happy.' He grabbed Heero's chin with one hand, and stared into his eyes. 'I wouldn't be, doing something you weren't into. You get that, right?'

Something, some little cloud, shifted in Heero's eyes, and Duo forced himself to smile. 'It's OK, babe,' he murmured, and obviously sounded convincing enough for Heero to give a relieved smile in return. OK, of course he fucking missed topping, sometimes, but he could live without it, certainly didn't want Heero gritting his teeth to get through something he didn't like, just to give Duo a few moments of pleasure. Damn.

He swallowed. 'I've been thinking a lot over the past couple of weeks. I'm going to quit Preventers. As soon as we get back, I'm handing in my notice.'

Heero's face actually fell. 'I don't want you to give up your job because of me. I've been talking to Quatre about this; it's your life and your choice to make, and I shouldn't be trying to influence you so much.

Duo shook his head. 'It's not that. So, you and Quat, huh? I had the talk from Trowa. when we were inside. Listen, part of the reason I don't, didn't, want to quit, is 'cause I'm scared. I love my job, yeah, but it … kind of validates me as well. It makes me someone. Someone who matters, not just some street kid, or a thief, or whatever. I'm not like you and 'Fei; you're both educated and you've got skills, and I – I'm kind of scared that no one would ever want to hire me.' Heero opened his mouth to object, and Duo put one hand over it, silencing him. 'Y'know, it's really sucky that we could say all this stuff to the guys, but not each other. I don't want it to be like this anymore. We're partners, right? We should be able to tell each other shit. I want that to be a mission spec. And I dunno, maybe it's time to move on, for me. Tro was talking about getting shot: I can't stop thinking, now, of what it was like, waiting outside while he was in surgery. I don't want to do that to you. I don't know if I even want to be a Preventer without him, if I have to get a different partner.'

Heero reached out and gently removed his hand. 'What _do_ you want, Duo?'

'I think….maybe I'd like to build things for a change. I don't know, really. Maybe do a course in Engineering or Design or Architecture or even landscaping. Maybe get a part-time job as a mechanic or something while I'm studying. Not sure, yet. But the Preventer thing, that's over. I have a ton of vacation time; I could probably take that instead of having to work out my resignation. I guess I'll need to talk to Une, but that's what Trowa did, so….uh, maybe say something?'

OK, it wasn't exactly like he'd expected Heero to jump up and down for joy, but he had expected something just a little more than Heero just gazing at him, with more than a hint of sadness.

'You're doing it because of me, aren't you? You wouldn't, otherwise.'

Duo shrugged. 'Probably not. So what? C'mon, Heero. Without you, what would I have? A few one night stands? An empty apartment? A job that'll get me killed, sooner or later? I'm seriously on borrowed time, as it is. We both know that. It doesn't add up to what I've got with you. I fucking _mean_ that, Yuy. Honest. OK?'

'OK,' Heero echoed obediently, and enfolded him in a bone-crunching hug.

Duo just let him, burying his face in Heero's shoulder. He'd meant what he said, every word of it, but it didn't mean he wasn't going to miss being a Preventer. Didn't mean he wasn't still scared of the future.

But he had Heero, and Heero had him, and they mad a mission and it would be enough.


End file.
